Biography            

Award-winning saxophonist and composer Alex Mathias has been working hard on the Irish music scene since returning from his studies at the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in 2006. Mathias has performed around the globe in over a dozen countries, playing with bands such as The Commitments, The Republic of Loose, The RTE Concert Orchestra and the award-winning Dublin City Jazz Orchestra among others. Mathias was also commissioned to compose and arrange for the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra through Arts Council funding, which has since been performed around the country including a performance at the Sligo Jazz Project with Village Vanguard drummer, John Riley. He has made numerous TV and Radio appearances with an array of national and international artists including Claire Martin, Mary Coughlin, Christine Tobin, Shane MacGowen, Amy Winehouse and many more.

The Alex Mathias Quartet (“Best Young Band” of Cork Jazz Festival 2010) released their debut album Goin’ Roamin’ on Livenote Records in 2010 which has since been featured on Aer Lingus in-flight entertainment and is also the soundtrack to a recent US documentary for tourists visiting Ireland called The Local Way. The Quartet has recently been invited to Germany’s Muensterland Festival Part 6 (alongside artists such as Julie Feeney and Camille O’Sullivan). The festival is representing Irish, English and Scottish artists and takes place in September/Ocotber 2011

Alex currently teaches jazz improvisation/theory in Bray Music Centre and is available for workshops and private tuition. Contact him for more details


 
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Press:

"The audience was captivated by the notes of a true master musician" — Cearbhall E. O’Meadhra, Bray Arts Journal, January 2010

“He plays from the heart as well as the head”- Grainne Farren, Sunday Independent, May 2010

“If his dynamic young group featuring… are any barometer of the future shape of Irish jazz then the music on these shores is in rude health indeed”- Bray Jazz Festival on the ‘Alex Mathias Quartet’, May 2010

“a style of writing based on an ethos where melody is triumphant, where everyone is welcome to sample the musical fare” — Linley Hamilton, Presenter of "After Midnight", BBC Radio Ulster, June 2010

“full, round sound, excellent facility and robust, muscular style” – Ray Comiskey, Irish Times, July 2010

“The playing is considered and engaging, groovy and sentimental as required” - JJ Smyth’s on the ‘Alex Mathias Quartet’, July 2010

“The quartet itself is a living, breathing entity” - Linley Hamilton on the ‘Alex Mathias Quartet’, Presenter of "After Midnight", BBC Radio Ulster, August 2010

“Mathias is a thrilling, vigorous, robust tenor sax player when he lets loose “ - lan O'Riordan , Irish Times, Oct 2010

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©Alex Mathias